My Ares Son-in-Law

Qian Li struggled to get up, but Xiao Chen's foot stomped heavily on his back, the force so great it seemed to crush his spine. Qian Li's chest tightened from the pressure, making it difficult to breathe, and he could only lie on the ground, writhing in vain.

"Call...call the police! I'm calling the police to arrest you!" he roared incoherently, blood and foam gushing from his mouth.

Xiao Chen bent down, flicked his finger, and Qian Li's phone slammed against his cheek, the screen sliding off against his face. "I'll give you a chance, wait for your family to come and rescue you."

The cold voice had barely faded when the phone screen suddenly lit up, the blinding light reflecting off Qian Li's blood-stained face... The caller ID read: [Father].

The shrill ringing of the bell shattered the deathly silence of the office, echoing like a death knell.

The last trace of color drained from Qian Li's face like a receding tide; his lips trembled, and he even forgot to breathe.

He stiffly turned his head, staring intently at the name flashing on the screen, then suddenly looked at Xiao Chen's cold profile in the shadows. Those eyes, which were originally full of resentment, were now filled with endless fear.

A chill ran from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head, freezing every nerve in his body, even chilling his bones.

“No…impossible…” he muttered to himself, his voice hoarse as if it had been sanded.

With trembling hands, he reached out, his fingertips hovering above the screen for a long time before he finally pressed the answer button, squeezing out broken words: "Dad..."

"Qian Li! You bastard! What kind of evil spirit have you provoked?!"

On the other end of the phone came Qian's father's desperate screams, accompanied by the chaotic sounds of sirens and crackling flames in the background: "All the family companies have been seized! The banks have withdrawn their loans! Nobody in the entire provincial capital dares to help us! The old house... the old house was just set on fire by unknown assailants, and your mother... she didn't escape!"

"boom……"

The last sentence struck Qian Li like a thunderbolt. His vision went black, and his phone slipped from his palm, crashing to the ground with a "thud." The cracks on the screen spread like a spiderweb, mirroring his life at that moment.

The call was abruptly cut off, leaving only the monotonous busy tone echoing in the air.

At that moment, Qian Li truly felt what despair meant.

The young man in front of me used only one phone call to wipe out the Qian family, who had been entrenched in the western region for more than 20 years and had deep roots in the country, in just a few minutes.

What kind of existence is this? It's a sky that even the Qian family, with their power, can't reach!
He lay on the ground, limp and powerless, not even having the courage to look up at Xiao Chen. All that remained was a deep-seated fear and regret.

"M-Master..." Qian Li crawled forward on his hands and feet, his forehead hitting the floor hard. The "thump thump thump" sound was particularly clear in the silence. Blood quickly appeared on his forehead, staining the white marble red.

"I was wrong...I really know I was wrong! Please spare my worthless life! I'm willing to be your slave, I..."

"You shouldn't have touched my people."

Xiao Chen's voice remained calm and undisturbed, yet this calmness sent a chill down Qian Li's spine.

He looked up and saw a dark golden stream of energy condensing at Xiao Chen's fingertips, like a solid blade, gleaming with a chilling light under the lamp.

Qian Li's pupils contracted sharply, and his lips trembled as he tried to say something...

A flash of dark golden energy swept past, passing by his throat like lightning.

His mouth was open, but he could no longer make a sound. Warm blood gushed from his neck, staining the floor in front of him red.

His vision blurred rapidly, and the last thing he saw was Xiao Chen's tall, straight back as he turned and left, cold and devoid of any warmth.

……

In the break area outside the office, Yun Yuyan sat on the sofa, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes. Her gaze kept drifting towards the office, a mixture of nervousness and reassurance in her heart… She knew Xiao Chen would handle everything. Hearing steady footsteps, she immediately looked up.

Xiao Chen walked up to her, his cold aura had faded considerably. He raised his hand and gently patted her shoulder, his tone carrying a barely perceptible gentleness: "Let's go, someone will handle the aftermath. Let's go back to the villa; I want to eat your cooking."

Yun Yuyan stared at him blankly. The man's profile was cold and hard, but his eyes were clear and peaceful, as if everything that had just happened in the office was just a trivial matter.

She glanced at the closed office door, didn't ask any further questions, and nodded gently: "Okay."

Some things you don't need to know too much about. Having him around is enough.

When we returned to the villa, it was already dark and the streetlights were just coming on.

Yun Yuyan had just put down her bag when her phone rang, and the name "Zhou Keying" appeared on the screen.

"Ke Ying? Why have you kept your phone off these past two days?" She pressed the answer button, her tone carrying a long-lost sense of ease.

Zhou Keying's apologetic voice came from the other end of the phone: "Don't even mention it, I left my phone in the car, just found it. How are things on your end? I heard something happened to the Qian family, it seems... they were all wiped out?"

"It's been resolved," Yun Yuyan said softly, her gaze unconsciously drifting to Xiao Chen, who was washing his hands at the kitchen doorway, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Xiao Chen handled it."

Zhou Keying was silent for a moment, her tone carrying a hint of understanding and awe:

“I just saw the news. The Qian family’s old house caught fire, the company was shut down, and the core members were either injured or killed or arrested. It’s all over… Now that it’s resolved, I won’t ask any more questions. By the way, my aunt and I are taking Grandma back to her hometown to recuperate for a few days. We’ll be back in about three or four days. Could you tell Xiao Chen for me?”

"Okay, I'll tell him."

After hanging up the phone, Yun Yuyan looked at the busy figures in the kitchen, and a sweet feeling inexplicably welled up in her heart.

Although she knew that Xiao Chen's world was vast and complex, and that he might never have cared about romantic feelings, he always appeared on time when she was most helpless and in the most danger, sheltering her from the wind and rain and crushing all threats one by one.

It feels quite nice to be protected by him like this.

……

Three days later, at the headquarters of the Western Region New Martial Arts Association, in the top-floor conference room.

Ao Tianchen stood with his back to everyone in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window was the bustling cityscape, but he had no heart to appreciate it. His eyes were dark and bloodshot, filled with the pent-up violence and anxiety of the past four days. He hadn't slept for four days.

The walls of the conference room were covered with a dense array of photos, maps, and relationship networks, studded with red thumbtacks and tangled cotton thread, resembling a menacing spider web.

At the very center of the spiderweb was a blurry photo of a silhouette... the only clue pieced together from the surveillance footage of the seven crime scenes.

"devil."

Some people privately referred to the murderer by this code name, which was like a persistent affliction, causing widespread panic throughout the martial arts community in the western region within just half a month.

What terrified Ao Tianchen even more was that whenever his men were about to get close to a clue, the relevant witnesses and informants would vanish as if they had evaporated into thin air, and even their bodies could not be found.

It was as if an invisible hand had silently erased them from this world. (End of Chapter)